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US sanctions Libyan militia after Russian UN block
Summary
A retrospective on the Treasury's sanctions on al-Kaniyat and its leader, announced after a stalled Security Council bid, and on a Russia–US naval dispute a day earlier.
What happened on 25 November 2020 when Washington decided to act alone against a Libyan militia? The US Department of the Treasury announced unilateral sanctions on the al-Kaniyat militia, which was linked to the Libyan National Army, and on its leader, Mohamed al-Kani.
The move followed a blocked effort at the United Nations. Russia had stopped the Security Council from blacklisting the group over alleged human rights abuses in the city of Tarhuna. Those alleged abuses occurred during the 14-month military offensive led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
The sanctions were announced in the context of the Libyan peace process, part of the Second Libyan Civil War.
A naval dispute the day before
Russia and the United States were also trading claims at sea. On 24 November 2020, Russia said its navy had made a US destroyer turn back after threatening to ram it. Moscow claimed the ship had violated Russian territorial waters in the Peter the Great Gulf, passing the maritime border by two kilometres.
The US navy gave a different account. It said its destroyer had conducted a freedom of navigation operation to challenge a Russian claim that it described as inconsistent with international law, as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention, to enclose the waters of a bay.
